Box Score


 Danbury, CT … Junior Alex Fox (Washington, NJ/Westwood) hit four straight shots in the final minutes of play to propel The College of New Jersey men's basketball team to a 57-53 victory at Western Connecticut State University in Feldman Arena in a Saturday afternoon affair.
 
Fox scored nine consecutive TCNJ points in two minutes as the Lions (3-8) clawed their way from behind to snap a four-game skid. His final bucket with 1:34 remaining gave TCNJ a 54-52 advantage. Sophomore Ryan Keegan (Farmingdale, NJ/Howell) knocked down a pair of critical free throws with nine seconds remaining before freshman Mitch Miller (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central) iced the win with a foul shot that put the Lions up by four.
 
Fox led all scorers with 18 points and also collected a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Jayson Johnson (Bordentown, NJ/Life Center Academy) finished with 16 points and junior Matthew Rista (Point Pleasant, NJ/St. Anthony's) reached double figures with 11 points. Miller had a solid outing with seven points and eight boards.
 
Both teams showed signs of rust in the opening period as only five field goals were registered through 10 minutes of play. The Colonials (2-8) were held without a basket until Shawn Mobilio hit a three-point shot at the 11:31 mark of the opening half. He converted another shot from behind the arc less than two minutes later to give WestConn its first lead of the game at 11-9. They sustained that two-point advantage through the half, heading to the break with a 30-28 lead.
 
The Lions shot just 31 percent from the floor in the first half, but nine points from Fox and four rebounds off the bench sophomore DJ Griffin (Piscataway, NJ/Bishop George) kept the visitors within striking distance.
 
Mark Laporte of WestConn hit a jumper in the first minute of the second half to stretch the lead to four points. That would prove to be the largest difference in the second half. The Lions battled their way to a 40-40 tie when Griffin dropped in a layup with just under 12 minutes to play.
 
Western Connecticut held command of the scoreboard for the next eight minutes until Fox drained his lone three-point field goal of the game at the 3:35 mark to knot the score at 48 apiece. He hit another short jumper inside to give TCNJ its first lead of the half.
 
Colonial guard Russell Peyton tied the game up before Fox responded with another basket to regain the advantage. Peyton answered back with a jumper, but a final basket from Fox inside the paint gave the Lions the lead for good.
 
Mobilio was the lone player in double figures for WestConn with 11 points for WestConn. The Colonials had won two of their last three games entering the contest but dropped to 2-8 on the season.
 
TCNJ returns to New Jersey Athletic Conference play on Saturday, January 5 when they visit Rutgers-Newark for a game schedule for 8 p.m.